Small plane lost power before crash landing in a field near Tri-Cities Airport

A pilot in a Cessna 210 made an emergency landing in a farm field Wednesday evening after it lost power in the air.

The pilot was descending to land on a runway at the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco about 6:30 p.m. when the power went out, said Ben Shearer public information officer with the Pasco Fire Department.

Realizing he wasn’t going to make it to the runway, the pilot aimed for the farm land near the airport and was able to land safely.

Shearer said the whole event happened in a matter of minutes within firefighters being alerted that the plane was in trouble and then the next report was that the plane was on the ground. The pilot wasn’t hurt.

Emergency crews were able to reach the plane using a farm road off Glade Road and stopped a fuel leak with equipment on their truck, Shearer said.

The damaged plane was hauled to nearby Bergstrom Aircraft.

It’s believed the pilot was flying from Richland when he had the problem.

While not unheard of, these rough landings are rare. Still, Shearer said firefighters spend a lot of time practicing for these kinds of events.

The pilot also did everything right to avoid a more severe crash, he said.

The last time similar landing came in November when a small single-engine plane landed in a farm field north of Kahlotus.

This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 11:07 AM.